May Day Marchers Around The World Celebrate Workers, Immigrants : The Two-WayGarment workers in Bangladesh demand wage increases; unions in Greece critique austerity; left-wing parties in Poland highlight civic rights; advocates in the U.S. celebrate immigrants.

May Day Marchers Around The World Celebrate Workers, Immigrants

Protesters march against President Trump's immigration policy in Los Angeles on Monday, where tens of thousands are expected to take to the streets on May Day.

Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

Protesters paint a mural on the street during a May Day demonstration outside of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco, Calif.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

About 40 people marched through the town of Kenneth Square, N.J.

Joel Rose/NPR

Workers and members of various trade unions dressed in red take part in a rally on the occasion of International Workers' Day in Bangalore, India.

Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images

Riot police officers take position as they face demonstrators during the May Day demonstration in Paris. Paris police reportedly fired tear gas at rowdy protesters on the sidelines of the May Day workers march.

Thibault Camus/AP

Indonesian demonstrators participate in a May Day protest in Surabaya. Millions of demonstrators took to the streets across the country to demand better social security, while rejecting outsourcing policies and low wages.

Juni Kriswanto/AFP/Getty Images

Turkish riot police clash with protesters as they attempt to defy a ban and march on Taksim Square to celebrate May Day in Istanbul.

Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty Images

A Russian Communist Party activist carries a banner with a portrait of late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during a May Day rally in central Moscow on Monday.

Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images

Supporters of the Lebanese Communist Party take part in a May Day rally as they mark International Workers' Day in Beirut.

Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images

A young activist holds red balloons during a May Day rally organized by Ukrainian left-wing parties and trade unions in Kiev on Monday.

Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images

1 of 10

May Day protests and rallies around the world and across the U.S. are celebrating labor, calling for greater protections and benefits for workers and highlighting the contributions of immigrants.

At least one protest has turned violent: In Paris, protesters threw "gasoline bombs and other objects" at police, while officers threw tear gas at the crowd and clubbed some demonstrators with truncheons, Reuters reports. Three police officers were injured, including one who was seriously burned, the wire service says.

In Turkey, police used tear gas against protesters attempting to march to Istanbul's Taksim Square, where demonstrations were prohibited, AFP reports. At least one protester was arrested for defying the ban.

Thousands of garment workers in Bangladesh gathered to demand wage increases, according to The Associated Press. Unions in Greece marched and critiqued austerity measures. Left-wing parties in Poland protested the conservative party in power, calling for protections not just for workers but for civic rights. In Moscow, two marches drew from "nostalgia for Soviet times," the AP writes.

In Paris, May Day protesters threw gasoline bombs, causing fire on the streets and leaving at least one police officer badly burned on Monday.
Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images
hide caption

toggle caption

Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images

In Paris, May Day protesters threw gasoline bombs, causing fire on the streets and leaving at least one police officer badly burned on Monday.

Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images

In Venezuela, there are competing marches, both for and against the government, Al Jazeera reports.

The first day in May has been a holiday for labor groups and leftist organizations for more than a century. May Day is a national holiday in many countries, but not in the U.S.

But as NPR's Kirk Siegler has reported, protests in the U.S. are expected to be larger this year than usual, driven by opposition to President Trump's policies.

Many U.S. protests are focusing on immigration. In 2006, May Day in the U.S. was marked by major immigration protests across the country, including a boycott of school and work.

Organizers are calling for another nationwide strike by immigrants and their allies this May Day. It will be the second such strike since Trump took office; Feb. 16 was also a "day without immigrants," organized in response to Trump's immigration policies and travel ban.

In Kennett Square, Pa., about an hour west of Philadelphia, a few dozen people gathered at a march. Most of the immigrants who showed were farmworkers, reports NPR's Joel Rose.

Protesters chant during a May Day demonstration outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco on Monday. Thousands are expected to take to the streets across the United States to participate in May Day demonstrations.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
hide caption

toggle caption

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Protesters chant during a May Day demonstration outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco on Monday. Thousands are expected to take to the streets across the United States to participate in May Day demonstrations.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

"They gathered at a park and then marched through the center of town chanting and holding up banners," Joel says. He reports that there were recently immigration raids at a nearby mushroom producer — mushrooms are a major industry in the area. The immigration officials were reportedly looking for information about four men.

"They didn't find them, but they did arrest at least a dozen others and put them in deportation proceedings," Joel says. "Organizers say that likely drove down turnout for the march today because people are scared."

In Seattle, previous May Day marches have turned violent, with police using pepper spray against rock-throwing protesters. But this year, authorities are worried about a different kind of violence — "crowd-on-crowd conflict," as Seattle Police Capt. Chris Fowler puts it.

"A group of Trump supporters is expected to counter-protest," explains Simone Alicea of member station KNKX, in addition to the "anti-fascist and anti-capitalist groups who are likely to demonstrate."

Thousands are expected in Milwaukee, reports Chuck Quirmbach of Wisconsin Public Radio, where protesters are expected to target not just federal policy, but local Sheriff David Clarke.

"Last week, he again defended Trump administration immigration efforts, as media reports indicate Clarke may get a job with the Department of Homeland Security," Quirmbach says.